


you mess with her (you mess with the pack)

by fairyforgottentales



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Implied Stiles Stilinski/Malia Tate, Minor Melissa McCall/Sheriff Stilinski
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-26
Updated: 2014-07-26
Packaged: 2018-02-10 10:59:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2022627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairyforgottentales/pseuds/fairyforgottentales
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>in which the pack is very protective of Lydia and makes sure Parrish knows he won't survive if he hurts her</p>
            </blockquote>





	you mess with her (you mess with the pack)

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is just a little something I've been working on in the past few days. Note that this doesn't touch the supernatural occurances in Beacon Hills. There are small hints that Parrish does know about everything that is going on in the town now, but it mainly focuses on how everyone reacts to his and Lydia's relationship and you can see small glipse of said relationship as well.
> 
> Hope you guys will like it, kudos and comments are always greatly appreciated.

** you mess with her (you mess with the pack) **

Jordan Parrish was aware of how complicated it would be to be in any kind of relationship with Lydia Martin that isn’t completely, 100% platonic, but he was ready for it. There was something special in the redhead young woman - he couldn’t quite decide whether it was her intelligence, her strength, her determination, her beauty, her courage or something even he couldn’t figure out yet -, that had him hooked the second he lowered his gun and took a closer look at her.

He knew it wouldn’t be easy, and instead of padding on his back and congratulations for finding such a catch, he would get suspicious, disapproving side looks, shaking heads and whispers from multiple people. He figured the problem of those who wouldn’t approve of the relationship mostly because the age difference between the two of them, and he accepted this, knew it would be coming.

He didn’t expect this strong of a reaction, however.

…

The first threat comes when nothing even happened between him and Lydia.

Well, if you don’t count the constant flirting going on between them and the occasional checking outs when they think the other isn’t looking.

But Lydia is still seventeen, they just met and yes, the “what if” might have crossed Parrish’s mind a couple of times, but they’re nowhere near to even talk about starting a relationship, let alone for anyone to jump on them for it and make assumptions.

Stiles Stilinski, however, feels like he _has to_ do it.

It happens on a Wednesday, when Parrish is coming back from a long patrol. When he finally crushes down onto his chair, he is hungry and all he can think of is the leftover Mac and Cheese sitting in his fridge. He still needs to get through a huge amount of paperwork before he can get anywhere near to that, though, and he turns towards the pile of files and forms waiting to be filled out on his desk when he sees the small, pink post-it note on the top of the highest pile. According to it the Sheriff requires him in his office, and with a sigh he pushes himself up from his chair and heads to said office.

But instead of finding the Sheriff in there, Parrish finds his son, comfortable leaning back in his father’s chair, legs crossed and up on the desk.

Parrish frowns. “Have you seen your father?”

“He’s got a date so he left early,” comes the answer and after a second of silence Stiles dramatically pulls his feet off of the desk and leans onto the desk.

He must have seen a lot of bad cop movies, Parrish thinks.

“I was the one leaving that note for you,” Stiles continues. “What’s going on between you and Lydia?”

Parrish chokes on thin air. The kid asked _what_?

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he manages to say when he finally comes back from the shock of that question. He always acts carefully around Lydia. He loves spending time with her and getting to know her better – they’ve been spending more and more time together lately, and they’re slowly heading towards that time being spent more off murder scene then on one, thank goodness -, but not being in any way suggestive or giving false signals is always top priority for him.

So he hasn’t got the faintest idea where the Stilinski kid came up with this nonsense.

“I’d call out on your bullshit, because it’s obvious as the moon going around the earth, but that is not exactly what I’m here to talk about. Lydia is her own person and nobody can tell her what she can and cannot do – if she wants somebody, she gets him. End of story. But let me warn you about something. If something does happen between the two of you,” Parrish cannot decide when the kid’s voice became so threatening or when did his expression change, but damn, he was selling it good, “and she ends up hurt, I will bury you alive and not even going to be kind enough to give you something to kill yourself with. I’ll simply let you drown in that damn coffin. Got it?”

“Got it,” the deputy nods and before he can say another word, Stiles goes around the table, passes him and walks out of the office.

What the hell just happened, Parrish thinks as he looks after the kid, and does the Sheriff know his son is a sociopath?

…

The next one comes on Lydia’s 18th birthday.

Lydia holds a huge birthday party, as it was expected of her, but he isn’t invited. He’s not surprised, they just had a rather big fight a couple of days prior, their first. Lydia said she was done with the waiting, that it was obvious they both felt strong for each other and she didn’t understand why they have to deny their feelings when she’s clearly more mature then her age and for God’s sake, her birthday was only days away. He argued her with the law, the way he was raised; he brought up the military and his current job at the Sheriff’s station. Neither one of them was willing to make a compromise and the night ended with Lydia rushing out of Parrish’s house and smashing the door behind her so hard he wouldn’t have been shocked if the door fell out of its place.

They haven’t talked ever since.

Parrish tried calling Lydia the next day and the followings as well, but she refused to pick it up and he could get a hint.

He did, however, planned on baking a cake for her – she told him once that she found it impressive if a guy knew his way around the kitchen -, and he didn’t intend to break that plan.

He made a red velvet cake and he went over when the party already started. He meant to sneak in, put the cake into the fridge where Lydia can find it the next morning and then leave without being noticed.

He couldn’t even get through the door.

He walked up to the porch and was about to put his hands on the doorknob when somebody threw the door wide open and he found himself face to face with possibly one of Lydia’s classmates. Maybe even friend.

But unlike him, the guy seemed to recognize him in the matter of seconds.

“I wouldn’t go inside if I were you.”

Parrish raised his eyebrow, his gaze flashing over the guy’s shoulders to see what is going on inside automatically. “I’m only here to drop this cake off, not to cause drama. I won’t even talk to Lydia.”

“Still, I wouldn’t go in if I were you,” he repeats himself. A loud scream comes from an unknown part of the house – was that the Stilinski kid Parrish heard? -, and then loud cheering and clapping. The kid in front of him takes one quick look behind him before he turns his attention back on Parrish. “Look, if you give me the cake, I’ll put it in the fridge and make sure Lyds knows it’s from you.”

_Ahhh_ , so it’s Danny he’s facing right now. Lydia told him a lot about the guy, and he can remember how he is the only person who is allowed to call her Lyds. From the stories he heard, he and Lydia are good friends and he decides to listen to the kid’s opinion.

“Thank you,” Parrish nods, hands the box the cake is in to him and turning around she walks back to his car.

“ _Hey_!” Danny calls after him when he’s already at his car, about to climb inside. The door is open and Parrish leans against the car, his right hand resting on the top of it. “Have you seen The Net with Sandra Bullock?”

It was a weird question, but his mother has an obsession with Sandra Bullock, so if he hasn’t seen all of her movies at least five to ten times, he hasn’t seen any of them. “Yes. Why?”

“Then you know what will happen to you if Lydia will ever get hurt because of you.”

Danny flashes him a smug grin, turns on his heels and with the cake in his hands heads inside and closes the door, leaving a confused and slightly shocked deputy alone on the street.

…

The next Monday he is assigned to do his patrols in the high school area, and as he passes by the building, he catches two girls gossiping about Lydia’s party. As it turns out, in a drunken state of mind Lydia came onto Stiles rather publically and got turned down by the very guy who has been pining over the strawberry blonde since anyone could remember.

Parrish decides to ignore it and blame it on Lydia’s anger and the large amount of alcohol she must have consumed. He cannot stop wondering if the screaming and shouting and cheering he heard was _that_ , though.

(What nobody else knows is that after the incident, Lydia spends over an hour crying on Stiles’ shoulder about Parrish.

For the first time in her life she has true, genuine feelings towards somebody and she was so sure that Jordan reciprocated these feelings, but after their fight she cannot stop questioning if he really does have those feelings or if her ego got it wrong and she simply misread the signs.

She’s bloody terrified and coming onto Stiles was her way of trying to get back at Parrish.

It was rather childish, she knows, and as Stiles tries to sooth her and calm her down, she tells him she wouldn’t be surprised if after this, he realized what a mistake he made in the first pace and really wouldn’t want anything to do with her.)

They talk about everything that happened two days after Parrish hears the gossip queens and after talking for a very long time and sorting everything out, the two of them end up making out on Parrish’s couch.

The “whether or not we should be together” topic doesn’t come up again anytime soon.

…

With Stiles Stilinski already seeing through the situation before anything even happened, it was ought to reach the Sheriff’s ears. And fast.

He is called into the Sheriff’s office exactly three days after Lydia and him made things official between them. He’s honestly thought it would take less time for this conversation to go down, (Mostly because he hoped he could get done with it as soon as possible. Parrish knew how awkward it is going to be, and he rather looked at it as a band aid that is better ripped off quickly then do it slowly. Less pain that way.) but three days isn’t considered that long time either and he knew that in an hour he will be already over it, sitting by his desk and most likely struggling through paper work. With that thought he walks into the Sheriff’s office and closes the door behind him.

Nobody needs to hear this.

In a way he was glad he wasn’t the only one who found the situations awkward. The first minute of him being in the office was uncomfortable silence, both of them trying to figure out what exactly would be the best line to break the tension.

In the end, the Sheriff was who did it.

“So—Lydia Martin?”

“Yes Sir.” Silence. Bloody damn silence again. “But I can assure you, nothing happened between us before she turned eighteen, I could never do such a thing.”

The Sheriff sighs, resting his head in his left palm. “Eighteen is still eighteen, deputy.”

“I am aware of that, sir, but you can’t deny that Lydia is different. She’s more mature then most of her age, I’d even be willing to take a bet she’s more mature then a lot of my peers. She’s beautiful, intelligent. She’s also her very own person; if she wants something, she gets it. And it looks like I got very lucky, because for some reason, she wants me.” A soft smile full of emotion was visible on Parrish’s face as he talked about Lydia, with each sentence it brightening and widening.

The Sheriff slowly nods and leans back in his chair.

“I understand that, but you gotta understand something too, Deputy. Lydia Martin is a very special lady, which I’m sure you’re aware of. And she’s one of my son’s best friends. So if you hurt her, I don’t care if it’s intentionally or not, nor I care about when you two got together. I will make sure you’re arrested with the charge of abusing an underage. Are we clear?”

Parrish nods. He didn’t expect anything else, and it’s not like he’s planning on hurting Lydia.

No, quite the opposite.

They might have only been together for a short time, but he has never had this strong feelings for a girl before, and he already knows he want this to last as long as possible. And as long as Lydia puts up with him.

Parrish is dismissed soon after and he returns to his desk to work on that pile of paperwork he’s been eyeing all morning with a relief in the pit of his stomach that finally, _finally_ , he had this conversation behind himself.

…

Lydia warned him about Scott. She told him he was a protective alpha and he always wanted the best for his pack, so when he shows up at his house at 9PM one night while he and Lydia is having a movie night, he is not surprised at all.

They’re coming close to finishing the “A New Hope”, the first of the original Star Wars trilogy when the doorbell rings. Lydia is in his arms, her head resting on his shoulder while his arm is wrapped around him securely, and he can honestly say he hasn’t felt this satisfied in a very long time.

Lydia groans at the sound of the bell and snuggles closer to his body. The thought of her boyfriend letting her go and getting up from the couch isn’t welcomed.

“Must be our dinner,” Parrish mutters in her ears and after planting a kiss on her temple, he slips out of the embrace. He grabs a few popcorn from the bowl in Lydia’s hands and pops them into his mouth as he grabs his wallet from the table and walks to the door.

Instead of the delivery guy who is bringing their Chinese food, he finds Scott McCall standing at his front door.

“Lydia, Scott is here,” he calls out for his girlfriend. “Is anyone’s life in danger?” he then adds worry in his voice.

“No worries, everyone is fine. And I’m not here to see Lydia, I was looking to talk to you, actually.”

“Gosh, Scott, _now?_ ” Parrish hears Lydia’s voice from behind him. She’s standing in the doorway to the living room with the popcorn still in her hands, and once again Parrish is stunned and distracted on how hot those legs look when she’s wearing shorts. She rolls her eyes and sends a threatening glance to Scott. “ _Fine_ , just make it quick, would you? I’m educating Jordan on what is a good sci-fi movie is like – it’s still a miracle he hasn’t seen Star Wars in his life; though the same thing can be said about you too -, and we’re just about to see Obi-Wan facing Darth Vader, so you managed to step right into the middle of our fun.” She turns to head back to the couch, but then stops herself. “Oh, and one more thing. If it’s possible, I’d like to have my boyfriend back in one piece.”

Parrish’s lips twitch up in a smile. He cannot get enough of Lydia calling him her boyfriend. Makes him feel the luckiest guy on the world. And with Lydia, he probably is.

But to get back to their date and actually enjoying it, he has to get through the “if you hurt her, I’ll kill you” speech. Once again. He faces Scott and leaning against the doorframe and crossing his arms he makes a move with his head that says “let’s get this over with”.

“Lydia is pack, she’s like family,” Scott starts. “She’s been through hell and back, most of it you probably can’t even imagine, but to say that she had her fair share of pain in her life is an understatement. So, if you add any more to the pile, you not only answer to me, but the whole pack. Basically, my advice to you – if that ever happens, you better run from Beacon Hills as fast as you possibly can, because trust me, you do not want a whole pack of supernatural creatures jumping down your throat all at once.”

What could he possibly say to this? That he wouldn’t hurt Lydia? That he cares about her more than any other girl he’s ever met? That he would hurt himself more than anyone around him could if he does end up causing pain to Lydia? All of that seems like something anyone who receives this kind of speech says, and it would ruin the true meaning behind those words. Because Lydia isn’t just anyone, and their relationship is special.

In the end Parrish rubs the back of his neck in a sheepish motion and nods. “Got it.”

They stare at each other for an awfully long moment before he points behind him. “I’m gonna get back to Lydia now, before she takes both of our heads for this taking so long.”

Scott nods and stuffing his hands into his pocket he walks off the driveway towards the sidewalk, but then he stops and turns around, calling back for Parrish. “Hey! Is Star Wars really that good?” he asks and Parrish burst out in a grin.

“Yeah, it’s really that good,” he says and closing the door he goes back to the couch and Lydia. It was true, he did like the movie, though the fact that Lydia occasionally looked up at him, searching for his gaze and granted him with one of her brightest smile when she saw that he enjoyed himself had big part of it.

…

Chris Argent does it with style.

He calls in a robbery to the Sherriff’s Department and he specifically asks for Deputy Jordan Parrish to come in and investigate.

He finds it weird and suspicious from the very beginning, but does as he is told anyway.

Argent makes him wait at the door at least two minutes before he opens it, and when he does, he has a cloak and a gun part – from what he can see, Parrish’s guess would a 0.9, maybe a 0.45 -, and he seems to be cleaning it. He is cool, calm, confident. He doesn’t, however, look like somebody who has just been robbed.

Parrish steps into the apartment with narrowed eyes and follows Chris into a room that is on the left of the hallway. He doesn’t get to make two steps into the room when he sees what is on the desk and freezes.

Unlike other – normal – people’s desk, this one isn’t covered in paperwork, broken pens or even a computer or a laptop. No. The whole desk is covered with shotguns and rifles. He can also see a few handguns, different types of knives and… is that a grenade?

His hands move over his own gun automatically, though he doubts he could do too much harm with it compared to what lies in front of his eyes.

“So, some of your gun collection was taken?” Parrish asks when he finally find his voice again.

“No,” he shakes his head. “Nothing was taken, I simply wanted to have a chat.” To put more weight on his words, the man was now holding an AK-47 in his hands, admiring the delicate, but deadly weapon.

“Does that talk involve a duel? Because if so, I certainly want no part of it.”

“It all depends on you, son. Do you know what this is?” he points towards the weapon in his hands and Parrish honestly feels offended. Anyone who served in the military can recognize an AK-47, it’s not rocket science.

“AK-47.”

“Yes. It is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle with 300-400. of effective firing range. What about this one?” Christ Argent puts down the AK-47 and picks up another weapon. Parrish takes a step close so he could take a closer look at it.

“Benelli M4 Super 90. Italian semi-automatic shotgun, 55 yards of effective firing range.”

“Good, good. This one here,” he puts his hands on another one on the other side of the table, “is M249 gas-operated 5.56×45 mm light machine gun. With point target it’s shooting range is 700m, but the maximum range is 3600km. Fascinating, don’t you think?”

It is quite clear to Parrish that the man understands what he is doing and loves it with all his hard. He’s always loved listening to people talking about their passions and when it involved the military in some ways, it was even better, but still, he cannot understand what this little show and tell is for. Just because in a way they both shared knowledge about guns, why did Argent have to make up a fake robbery to call him over here. And to simply talk about guns. It simply made no sense.

Well, until he spoke again.

“Take a good look at this table and everything on it, because if you hurt Lydia Martin, one of these beauties will be the end of you.”

Parrish is shocked, terrified and speechless at the same time.

“W- _what_?”

“If you want, you can pick out the winner, I don’t care, but I thought you’d like to know where you’re standing,” Argent shrugged casually, then without even looking up, he motions with one hand towards the door. “You can go now.”

And he does, shaking his head in disbelief, his hand never leaving his gun.

…

The two girls, Kira and Malia, think the best place to make it clear that they don’t want their friend to get hurt is in the middle of a crime investigation, with three dead bodies lying only few feet away from them.

They’re there to pick up Lydia, who was unfortunately once again faster than the actual police on arriving to the scene.

By that time they worked out a perfect system – when Lydia had one of her intuitions, she texted or called Parrish right away with the address and he was on the scene in less than ten minutes. If they got lucky, it was around the end of Parrish’s shift and he could give her a ride back home or they would go back to his place and spend the night with talking and cuddling, but this time his shift barely even started, so there was no chance of him being able to take care of her afterwards. And since the thought of Lydia being alone after finding yet another dead body was unacceptable for him – he always worried about the effect her powers had on her -, he convince her to call Kira, who brought Malia along.

“Where is she?” Kira asks as soon she notices Parrish, and the deputy points towards the hallway.

“I asked her to wait in the kitchen, I didn’t want her to see the body more than it was necessary.”

“We’ll get her out of here.” It was Malia’s turn to talk this time.

“Thanks. My shift ends in four hours, can you stay with her until then, distract her mind from what happened?” he asked. “I don’t want her to be alone.”

Kira nods and is already heading towards the hallway that leads to the kitchen, but Malia stands still, eying Parrish with a weird light in her eyes. She looks him up and down, one, two, three times before she crosses her arms and does nothing but stare.

Parish narrows his eyes. “What?”

“This good guy act is and fun and nice, but all the men are the same dickheads in the end. So for your information, when that good guy act drops and you hurt Lydia, say goodbye to your dick and your testicles, because they’ll be cut off sooner then you could say sorry.”

Parrish is shocked by the blunt, straightforward words and the aggression behind them. Kira is turned towards Malia and her reaction mimics his. She’s faster to snap out of it, however, she must have already gotten used to the girl and her ways, because then she takes three long and rushed steps towards her friend and linking their arms together, Kira pulls Malia with her.

“Really sorry about her. She had a huge fight with Stiles and now she looks at every man as her arch enemy,” Kira tries to explain things as she’s looking back over her shoulder while she’s pushing Malia towards the hallway. The girl grumps, pouts and her mumbles contain more curse words then not, but eventually give in and storms to the kitchen in the back of the house, where Lydia is waiting for them.

Kira, however, doesn’t follow her. Now fully turned back towards the deputy she send him a small, encouraging smile before her expression changes into serious.

“Her methods and wording might still be a bit off, but she’s right, you know? I don’t know Lydia too well yet, but she’s an amazing person and one of my best friend, so if you mess with her head, you mess with a very angry fox and coyote.” She pauses. “And possibly the rest of the pack.”

Parrish smiles as he nods. “So I’ve heard.” Kira’s threat wasn’t the same as all the  others’. She might have threatened him, but her words were soft and he could feel that even though she meant those words completely, she didn’t think she’s actually have to fulfill the promise. She gave her the benefit of the doubt, and that meant a lot to Parrish.

The girls then follows her friend and in not more than five minutes they approach the front door, Lydia now with them.

…

Derek is like a protective big brother with his unamused expression and crossed arms.

Depending on how his shifts take up his day, Parrish runs. Sometimes in the morning, sometimes before the sun goes down, but he hates missing out on a day. He enjoys that four, sometimes five miles; it clears his mind, he thinks about nothing but his breathing and the blurring music in his ears, and after months of the same route he knows his surroundings as well. Turn right from his place, run two blocks before turning right once again where he reaches the woods, where he runs about two miles, crossing by the old Hale house as well before reaching out at a horribly expensive grocery shop, then getting out to the main road he reaches the street he lives on in 30 minutes.

He runs by the Hale house, so really, he thinks, it’s all his fault.

One morning he got company by the burnt down house. Derek Hale came out of nowhere – one minute nobody was in front of him, and then next it was only inches between them before he could stop his legs, preventing to crash into the guy.

Parrish took a couple of hard breathes as he pulled the earphones out. They weren’t buddies, sure, but Derek Hale and he didn’t have anything against each other, they even worked together a couple of times to help the sheriff. The grumpy, intimidating, hostile expression didn’t match that kind of relationship between them, however.

It didn’t take him long to realize what this was about. “Is this about Lydia?” he breathed out in an unimpressed voice. He got it, Lydia was well loved and protected (something she did deserve, Parrish knew and he was glad there were so many people in her life to make sure she was alright), but this was getting ridiculous. What did he have to do to prove that he wasn’t going to end up hurting the most important person in his life? “What is it going to be this time? You’ll burn me alive? Drown me? Behead me? I’m curious, really.”

Derek raised his eyebrow silently before an amused grin appeared on his lips, though it never reached his eyes. He shakes his head. “Oh no, I’m not going to do anything with you. I’ll simply hand you over on a silver plate to Lydia. Then she’ll do whatever she wants with you, that is up to her from that moment.”

Parrish swallows hard.

It might have not been the more detailed threat, but it sure as hell was the most efficient one. Lydia didn’t look like it with her always spot on clothes, her heels or her 5’3” height, she might not have claws, fangs or a tail; but she was a dangerous woman and he knew that. And above all, with her knowledge about him, she could easily torture him and hurt him without laying one finger on him.

“To be fair, I’m not planning on hurting her,” he says.

Derek waits a few heartbeats before he speaks.“Nobody ever does.” Then just as sudden as he came, he disappears.

Parrish blinks two, three times, then shakes his head, plugs his earphones back on and continues his run, though for the rest of the run all he can think about is what Lydia would come up with if she could do anything she pleases to him.

…

Melissa McCall surprises him more than any of the people above.

She comes in to bring lunch for the Sheriff, she’d been doing that a lot lately, whenever her own shift in the hospital allows it, but the Sheriff was called out to a break-in a few block down from the station and even though nobody knows for sure when he’d be back, she decides to wait for him.

Parrish is dealing with paper work that’s been piling up for three days now, and he cannot tell when the woman stopped in front of his desk and how long she waited for him to notice her. When he does, he looks up and putting down his pen he leans backwards.

“What can I do for you, Melissa?”

“I wanted to talk to you about Lydia.”

As soon as those words came out of the black haired woman’s mouth, Parrish groans. Loudly. Of all the people who knew and cared for Lydia, Melissa McCall was the last whom he would have assumed to partake in this ridiculous threatening game. Because that’s what it was in his eyes at this point.

“Not you too,” he sighs.

Melissa chuckles and shakes her head. “No, don’t worry. I’m not here to tell you never to hurt Lydia, or else. Well, technically I would prefer if it wouldn’t happen, but I’m realist and that is something sometimes you simply cannot control.”

Parrish’s tense body now relaxed and he eases into his chair. “Then I’m all ears.”

Melissa glances around and when he sees a free chair two desks away, she steps there and grabbing the back of it, she pulls it over to Parrish’s desk and crossing her legs she sits down.

“Here’s the thing – I’m not her mother, I’m not her best friend, or even somebody she’s overly close to, but what I do know is that she had her fair share of bad things happening to her already, and I’m not talking about the constant life danger she’s in. Up until this point she wasn’t the luckiest when it came down to relationships. First Jackson, who treated her worse than any would deserve to and almost died in front of her eyes as well. Then one of the twins, who might only have been a distraction, but he was the perfect description of a bad guy. And he wasn’t as lucky as Jackson was, he did die and Lydia might have not been there, but she did sense what happened, which had a huge effect on her. And the fact that I gathered all of this from the stories my son told me, says how deeply messed up the situation was.”

Melissa pauses for a short time and Parrish only realizes now that he’s holding his breath. Sure, they vaguely talked about previous relationships, but Lydia never wanted to get into the details, and he was understanding about it, never wanted to push her. And of course, he wasn’t a moron, he managed to put most of this together by the information he’s heard from others and what Lydia did say, but still, hearing it being said out loud was like somebody grabbed his heart and tried his best to smash it into ash – and getting very close to succeeding it.

Melissa’s voice is what snaps him out of his thoughts. “What I’m trying to say here is that she really needed a good guy in his life. Somebody who would throw her around however he pleases. Somebody who truly cares for her and treats her the way she deserves to be, because she’s an extraordinary girl. Somebody like you.” She sends a genuine smile in his direction. “You’re the good thing that finally happened to her and I’d bet on her being really good to you too.”

Parrish feels overwhelmed by Melissa’s words and for a long time he doesn’t even know how to response. “Thank you,” he finally manages to breathe out exactly at the same time the Sheriff walks through the front door. He watches as the two greets each other with a soft kiss (they finally admitted their feelings towards each other and started dating) with a small smile playing across his lips.

He cannot stop the image of him and Lydia twenty years from now greeting each other in the same way in her mind. He knows it was way to early but he’s never felt this way before and there is nothing wrong with a little daydreaming, right?

It doesn’t last long, however, because as Melissa is putting the chair back to its original place, with a coy, playful smirk she say, “But you know, what I said doesn’t mean that if you _do_ end up hurting Lydia, you will end up dead rather soon.”

…

“You know I would never hurt you, right?” it slips out of Parrish before he could stop himself as they lie in bed the same night. He’s half sure she’s already sleeping because her breathing is slow and steady and she hasn’t said a word in a while now. But she stirs and his eyelashes fluster a couple of times before she opens her eyes. “Not intentionally anyway.”

“Good to know the others scared you enough to not even consider it.”

Parrish shakes his head.

“No, it’s not that. –Well, yeah, it wouldn’t be a nice and painless experience to be put through everything your so called friends threatened me with,” he says it in a playful tone, pulling Lydia even closer into his embrace, but as he continues, his voice is serious, full of emotion, and he can only hope Lydia picks up on it too. “But without those threats, I would say the same thing. You mean more to me than anyone else and I would never want to hurt you.”

Lydia sighs and pulls herself up on her hands. “Of course I know, you silly man,” she mutters against his lips and then she give him a light peck before crashing back on the bed tired. “Now go get some sleep, you get an early shift and I don’t want you to be dead meat in the station.” And with that, her hands find their way back onto his waist, tightening around his body and she rest her head on his shoulder, using it as a pillow.

She falls asleep in the matter of minutes, Parrish following her into Dreamland not long after, his last thought being how lucky he actually got with this amazing woman next to him.


End file.
